Wednesday, September 09, 2009

a gentleman

I had a conversation the other day with a colleague of mine. He is an expat who married a local girl. He told me about his father in law, who kept calling his wife to ask for money. It sound rather normal to me to hear that happen. In fact i think a child should contribute some cash to their parents. But at least i think that for the father to call up his daughter and ask for money is a bit sad. Sad that the father need to ask and also because the father did ask.

Anyways, my collegue comments that they the european, don't do that. They just don't expect their childern to contribute anything except to come home every now and then so that they could play with the grand kids for a few hours (spending more than a couple of hours with the grand kids is a stress).

I said that it is a norm here in Malaysia for kids to give money to parents, but most of the time, mom and dad never do ask for it. Then he elaborated that this culture of passing the money to the older generation is not that good, since it'll cause the younger generation to be unable to build wealth. I agree in his thinking. This culture must stop and it must stop now, with our culture.

We must stop giving money to our parents! :D no not really. We must ensure that we are prepared our finances to allow us to go through retirement without help from the kids. Then the kids can focus on building their family and ensuring that they themselves are prepared to retire. And i think when we die and the kids die... our wealth will be passed on to the future and in the far future, our great great great grand kids could enjoy life without worries and drive vintage Jaguar 1956 XK140 Roadster to the tune of placebo's every you and every me while shagging elitist bitches high on designer cocain. Well.. not that.. but rich.

If we keep up with the culture of expecting money from our kids. Then we, our bloodline will remain poor. A slave to the wage. Always and forever.

...

So ok.. that was supposed to be the last line. But i'm not finished with the expat story. Apparently he married a rather... er.. youngish chick. That he thinks would be able to care for him later in life. But turns out that she's quite a gold digger. kinda. Well, maybe not really that, just that he made it sounds as if he thinks it that way. Or maybe i misunderstood his nuances. Not that she serves him tea with honey and belladonna and goes out shopping for latest gucci bags. Nope, but just that she does nothing after they got married. Nothing, as in just sit around the house, gets her hair done, go yoga, get together with friends and bitch about the other friends.. you know... the privilege of snagging an ang moh for a husband